Virat Kohli wants to lead “fresh and fit” pack of players at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, and thus he urged the country's mega-event probables to take care of their bodies during the 12th edition of Indian Premier League.
The World Cup starts on May 30 with South Africa taking on hosts England, while the two-time World champions India begin their campaign on June 5 against the Proteas at Southampton. On the other hand, IPL 2019 is all set to get underway from March 23 and is expected to culminate by the second week of May.
“As a cricketer, you have to map out how many practice sessions you really need (during the IPL). If you are hitting the ball well, there is no need to go to a practice session and tire yourself out when you can utilise that particular phase to rest and recover even more. If your team is a great position in the tournament, you wouldn’t mind taking two-three games off so it all depends on how you feel physically. Everyone has to be really honest about it to themselves and not push beyond a limit. That might hamper the Indian team later on. I think we all need to take responsibility for this,” Kohli told reporters on the eve of the first T20I against Australia in Visakhapatnam.
Kohli warned his teammates about not letting bad habits creep in during the IPL, before adding that he isn’t going to do anything fancy leading up to the cash-rich event.
“All people who are going to be part of the World Cup need to make sure their games don’t go too much away from the one-day mould. They need to be very wary of bad habits that might creep in during the IPL,” the Indian captain asserted.
“Frame of mind is the most important thing getting into the World Cup. And we need 15 people who are confident and mentally really happy about where there game is at that particular moment and it will take a consistent effort from all the players during the IPL to keep a check on that. The moment we enter the nets and create bad habits, you lose momentum. And once you lose that batting form, it is very difficult to get it back in a tournament like the World Cup. Everyone will have to protect that mindset and be aligned towards what the team wants,” he further remarked.
Apart from a reserve opener and the back-up wicketkeeper, Virat said the squad for the showpiece event is pretty much sorted.
“We are more or less sorted, I guess. But through the course of the series (against Australia), you might see something which might surprise you as a team or you might want to change immediately. But those are things which depend on what circumstances might come in front of you. As of now, we feel pretty balanced as a side. I don’t see major concerns or areas that we need to think about anymore, everything is more or less sorted,” he stated.
After the first T20I in Vizag on Sunday (February 24), India and Australia will move to Bangalore for the second shortest format match on March 27. Subsequently, the rehearsal for World Cup 2019 will start with the five-match ODI series, beginning on March 2 at Hyderabad.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
